Day 12

Lockport NY to St Catherines ON 82km

We looked at our maps and our route. Decided there was no point in splitting the last 80 km over two days, so this was our last day on the road.

When we stuck our head out of the tent at 7:15 am (we really slept in this morning!) our camping companions were already gone. It generally takes us an hour and a half to get up, dressed, showered, fed and packed up so these guys must have been up really early. Though, I will admit, it takes less time to get ready when you don’t shower—the showers are not available until 10 am, and we are gone long before then.

Cycling was fast in comparison to the last two days, we’re back on the pavement and no longer riding on crushed stone. Border crossing over the Rainbow Bridge was smooth, the guard on duty gave us no hassle when we told him we had not bought anything while in the States. The smile on his face told us he thought this was a ridiculous question!

It was good to be back on Canadian soil, but the first thing we noticed was the lack of paved shoulders. There is really very little room for cyclists on the road and the drivers of the vehicles were pretty good at expressing their displeasure at having to share it with us.

Cycling did get better when we got off the Niagara Parkway, some of the roads in this part of the country do have paved shoulders.

We arrived at my brother’s house about 3 pm. After a shower, we celebrated the end of our trip by doing some wine touring—by car—and are going home with several bottles of good VQA, Niagara wine!

Had a nice evening with R & S and nephew L, (thank you for giving us a bed!) but are now looking forward to going home.

The first day of our trip, we were asking ourselves “Why are we doing this?” I’m not sure we can answer the question, but we’re already discussing what the next trip will be and what we would change to make it better. I guess the only real answer is, “Because we can”.